Autumn Thoughts
by Digimon Dreamer
Summary: "I think its Fate. Death and rebirth is as much a fate for humans and Shinigami alike as is the changing of the seasons." Death the Kid and Crona have a discussion on what Autumn is which leads to confessions being made. A KidxMaleCrona oneshot.


**Author Notes: **Usually I don't upload KidxCrona fanfiction, but this is an exception. A oneshot drabble on Autumn, death/rebirth, and the concept of fate. I hope you enjoy it!

I do not own Soul Eater, Atsushi Okubo does.

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><p>Crona never understood metaphors. He was always one to stick to saying what he actually meant and not changing around words to mean something else.<p>

When he said that his blood was black, he meant it. His blood was actually black.

When he said that hell was inside of his head, he meant it. There was actually a hell brewing inside of his head… or at least, there was. Once upon a time, such had been true.

But now-

"A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image or such a thing to represent some intangible quality or idea. So it means that you use another image to mean something else, are you following me?" Kid questioned, his pencil to his paper and a book of "Literal and figurative language" opened up to the middle of the book.

To his side, Crona sat staring blankly at his worksheet.

Kid's eyebrow rose as he tapped his pencil on the paper. "Do you need some more help? If you can't understand something then I would be happy to help you out. How else do you expect to pass the English test tomorrow?"

He didn't know how, that was what.

Kid was his tutor right now, helping him study for the test. Granted, Crona usually asked Maka to help him out with studying; she had left along with Soul for another mission. So that was how Crona had ended up with Kid.

Which felt kind of awkward to tell the truth. Crona felt quite intimidated being with the Shinigami boy, let along learning from him.

And it felt worse that Crona couldn't seem to understand anything Kid was saying. Similes, Hyperboles, Personfication? It all sounded so confusing and Crona had to learn this all before tomorrow morning.

"Is there something you don't understand?" Kid asked again, hoping to get a response from Crona this time. Knowing that Kid was going to ask again if he didn't answer, Crona decided now was ok. As he answered, he noted how nervous he sounded. But he had to make it sound believable.

"N-no…" _More like yes… or how about everything?_

Of course, Kid being the observant young man that he was, he knew that Crona was only trying to help him feel better. The blank worksheet showed that Crona still didn't answer anything on the review. So… that meant that Crona didn't want him to think that he was a bad tutor?

Maybe now was a good time to take a break.

"Shall we go outside, for a breather?"

Crona was much more willing to answer this question. "Yes, please!"

Standing up, Kid closed the book and Crona quickly ran to the door. So long as he was away from that dreadful work, he was good.

Opening up the door outside, the two were greeted to the sight of the school's outside area. That area to the side of the school where trees grew and most teams worked on group activities together. But now, it was just the two of them.

"Let's go for a walk. It will help you relax." Crona didn't argue against Kid's logic and only nodded silently.

As the two of them walked together, Crona glanced around. The trees that normally had lush green leaves on them, now held mixtures of orange, yellow, and brown. There was many leaves on the ground too, making a crunching sound as each of them stepped another foot ahead of them.

Crona's short and fast breaths could be seen in front of him thanks to how cold it was. Looking over, he could also see Kid's breaths in the air in front of him.

This was what Autumn was like. He had long since learned what this season was supposed to be like…

_"What is Autumn?" A little Crona questioned to his mother one cold day. Why were the windows getting foggy thanks to the cold? Why were the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees? Why were all the animals leaving? …Not that Crona minded that last part. It was one less animal that he had to deal with._

_Hearing her child, Medusa turned around showcasing her usual scowl. "Why must you ask questions like that? They don't matter to you after all. What would you do with knowledge like that?"_

_His eyes darted to the side as he rubbed his foot on the ground. He didn't really have a reason to ask, he was just curious about the world around him. That was all._

_But of course, being curious didn't mean anything to his mother. Not to her. If it didn't help him with killing, then what need did he have for such knowledge?_

_He shouldn't have asked in the first place._

_Medusa wasn't much of a teacher. Not a conventional one anyway._

_"Well, Autumn is that time of the year when things begin to die." Crona quickly looked up as he noticed that Medusa was taking the time to answer his question. But he already wasn't starting to like the answer she was giving._

_"Everything begins to die at the beginning of Autumn and by the time Winter comes, everything is dead and gone. This is the season when animals have to leave in order to survive. This is when everything becomes cold and the warmth disappears."_

_"But that's…" Crona could hardly finish his sentence. "There your question is answered." _

_He knew that was all that would be on the subject._

He hated Autumn.

Because everything was dying.

Glancing again at the trees, he watched as a single leaf fell to the ground. He saw how worn out the bark on the tree looked, how bare the branches were getting.

There were barely any animals around too. Usually around this time of the day, he would have been able to hear the sounds of the songbirds singing a song that only made sense to them.

But there was nothing.

"Come on Crona, let's sit down here." Kid motioned to a wooden bench he had spotted. Crona nodded, once again feeling that it was better to not say anything. This whole thing felt awkward. The studying, the walk, and now they were going to just sit together.

But he didn't resist either, and just sat down to the right of Kid.

"Are you doing ok, Crona?" Drat! Kid always seemed to know when something was up. Crona quickly shook his head.

"N-no! Of course not!" _After all, Crona WASN'T feeling out of place right now! Oh no… not at all._

But Kid wasn't easy to fool. Crona should have known that from before.

"I know you are lying right now. So please, what's going on? I know this doesn't have to do with just studying, right?"

It was time to fess up. "I… just hate this time of the year."

"What?"

"I hate Autumn."

Kid blinked in confusion, the weight of Crona's words finally reaching him. "But, why do you hate Autumn? This season isn't any different than the other seasons. Winter, Spring, Summer,… they all are the same as Autumn."

Crona hesitated for a minute before speaking again, his eyes once again glancing at the leaves on the ground. "It's because everything dies in Autumn."

The trees and all the plants die, the animals disappear for warmer weather, and the ones who are left suffer in the cold which will last for months. Eventually, even the sun will disappear behind the clouds, making everything feel a little darker.

Crona didn't know how to deal with Autumn.

Biting his lip, Crona kicked at an orange leaf that was lying next to his boot.

Kid was flabbergasted. "Who told you that?"

"Medusa-sama."

Of course it would have been her… Kid shook his head. "You and I both know that she isn't around anymore. You don't have to keep thinking about her, ok?"

"But it doesn't change the fact that what she said was true. Look at everything around us. The bright and lively colors of Summer are replaced with the cold and harsh colors of dead leaves in Autumn." Crona looked downcast. He hated this, to be reminded of things dying around him.

Yet, what Kid said next he never expected. "Medusa was wrong. This isn't a season about death."

Looking up with wide eyes, full of that same curiosity from all those years ago when he had first asked Medusa, he now looked to Kid in the same way. Pondering on the answer.

"Autumn is not only about the leaves and the trees dying, but also about them getting ready to come back later. About them coming back to life again." Kid smiled. "As a Shinigami, I understand the concept of death and rebirth. Autumn is a wonderful time to observe that."

Crona watched silently and in shock over Kid's explaination and could barely register what he was saying yet at the same time, it began to make perfect sense. How could something not make sense but at the same time, make sense?

He didn't know how to deal with that sort of logic and yet…

"I want you to understand that too, Crona. The idea of death and rebirth…"

"B-but why do you care so much for me to understand?"

…

Kid thought for a few minutes, wondering what would be the best thing to say. And then, it came to him. "Because I care about your thoughts. After all, I' am death in a sense. But I' am also the giver of life as well."

He then turned to look Crona straight in the eyes, seeing his own reflection in those deep pools of light blue. "When I first met you, Crona, I felt like I had met you somewhere before."

The pink haired boy shrugged slightly. "Well of course, I mean on the ship-"

"No, before that. I felt like I knew you from somewhere before I even met you…" He had to give himself a chance to breath for a minute before continuing. "You see- the concept of death and rebirth not only is limited to the changing of the seasons. Humans undergo it too. It's called 'reincarnation' and it's a very real thing to Shinigami. You could say that it's something that we can control… but at the same time, we too are liable to its power."

"Kid-kun..?"

"I think that… once upon a time, I knew you in a past life."

Words spoken that could never be taken back. But those were Kid's true thoughts. Those thoughts that had been brewing in his head since he first met Crona. How when their eyes met, Kid couldn't understand this strange feeling of Deja Vu.

He recognized that soul since the first moment he saw it with Soul Perception.

"I think its Fate. Death and rebirth is as much a fate for humans and Shinigami alike as is the changing of the seasons."

Fate? Such a concept that had been very touchy to Crona. He had never been one to believe in fate. Because if such a concept were true, then that would have meant that Crona had deserved everything that had been given to him during his life. He deserved being treated like a weapon to be used by his mother, he deserved to be seen as a freak or a monster by others, and he deserved to feel so sad. Did he do something wrong to deserve this or was fate so cruel as to doom him to this path in life from before he was even in Medusa's womb?

But Kid said that both of them meeting was fate too? What was the truth and what was the lie? It confused him.

But at the same time, he felt his heart racing and his face growing in warmth so different than the cold around them.

He watched Kid move closer to him, as if time had slowed down. He watched as Kid wrapped his arms around Crona's lanky body. And then, he felt the touch of Kid's body against his own.

This was the first time that Kid had ever hugged Crona.

It felt different than back when Maka hugged him.

He felt his eyes widen so wide that he couldn't keep back the tears that began to fall down his face. He felt his body grow more in warmth. Maybe it was because Kid was still hugging him? Or was it because of some reaction from inside of him. From inside of his heart and soul?

"Kid-kun… I-" But he didn't finish his words before the sobs began to come out. He grabbed onto Kid and just began to cry. "I hate fate! It's so cruel! I don't want to believe in such a concept! But…"

"But you also don't want to turn your back on your own feelings too, right? You don't want to think that us meeting was anything but fate."

Crona shook his head knowing that Kid had just taken the words right out of his mouth.

And so, they continued to hug as the leaves continued to fall around them signaling death. But at the same time, they both knew that the trees and the plants would just be gone for awhile, to come back when Spring appeared.

Yes, both of them knew this now- including Crona.

The concept of death and rebirth… The concept of fate…

They would always be issues that Crona wouldn't be able to understand in full. But he knew things happened for a reason.

Just like the animals leaving for the winter. They had a reason, not just because it was Autumn like Crona had thought originally.

And there would always have been a reason that Crona and Kid met.

There would always have been a reason Kid found Crona so familiar to him. Even though the swordsman was a bit asymmetrical, which could be fixed easily with a haircut, it was something else that caught his attention.

Mind, body, and soul. From Crona's personality down to the boy's strangely symmetrical soul, Kid knew that even being a Shinigami he would never be able to explain those feelings he held for Crona.

But he didn't see a reason to worry.

Kid was the son of a god, and thus was a god too. Gods didn't see a difference in gender when it came to something like love.

And Crona was never taught much from Medusa, since she wasn't much of a teacher. So he was never taught the difference between genders when it came to love.

So there was nothing wrong with this…

Soon their lips connected and Crona felt the need to hold his breath. He never kissed anyone before but he could only hope that he was doing it right with Kid.

But holding his breath wasn't a good thing as it wasn't too long before he had to pull back and such in a much needed gulp of air.

But Kid didn't mind. He just flashed him a smile.

"Don't worry about it. Maybe that is just something else I need to teach you?"

It was on that day that Crona knew something had changed.

On that day, Crona died… but also was reborn thanks to that Shinigami.

Or at least, that seemed like the best way to explain what had just happened and how different Crona felt now.

But then again, Crona never really understood metaphors. Maybe now was a good time to try again.

"I'm ready to get back to work!"

Now he was sure he would pass his test.

Together they walked back down that path, the fallen leaves crunching under their shoes.

Fate… seemed like such a funny thing now.

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><p>There you go! So... what did you think? Should I write more KidxCrona sometime?<p> 


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